Pyrrha Pressure
by iWub
Summary: Pyrrha has been feeling down lately, so Yang takes it upon herself to cheer her up. With alcohol. Mild shenanigans ensue. Canon. Slight Arkos, but no other pairings. Focuses on characterization and friendship. Rated T for underage drinking, and mild language.
1. In Which Adult Beverages Are Consumed

Author's note: Enjoy! (I am pajamawolfie on Tumblr in case anyone cares)

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any characters therein.  
Also, Pyrrha's nickname "P-money" was made up by Matt the Mammoth Rider on Tumblr.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – In Which Adult Beverages Are Consumed**

Yang strode into Beacon's fitness center late one evening to see Pyrrha Nikos in the midst of disemboweling a practice dummy—at least, it would have been disemboweled if it had had any internal organs. Yang stared at her favorite non-cartoon cereal box mascot for a moment before dropping her gym bag loudly onto the floor.

"Easy there, P-money, I think it's dead."

Pyrrha turned around to see Yang leaning with her back against the wall, wearing her usual smug look. Pyrrha was not in the mood to be teased.

"What did that training dummy ever do to you anyw—"

Before Yang could finish her second jab, Pyrrha extended a hand towards her javelin, using her semblance to summon it to her hand with a loud clank, then lobbed it at the unsuspecting Yang.

Yang jumped two feet to her right. "Pyrrha, what the hell?! You're just lucky you missed my hair." As Miló still vibrated where it had pierced the wall, Pyrrha silently acknowledged that fact. She'd helped gather up the limbs of foes that had damaged Yang's precious hair.

Yang, who had still not taken the hint, started strolling in her direction. "Damn, girl; you're tense! You really need to get laid—" Just as the last word was leaving her mouth, Yang realized the severity of her mistake: Pyrrha summoned Akóuo, and crouched in a flawless battle stance. Not particularly wanting to get beheaded, the blonde held up her hands for a truce. "Whoa, whoa. Sorry, P-money." Yang tried to maintain her cheerful look, but she was actually starting to worry about her friend. This wasn't like Pyrrha; she usually kept a cool head in any situation.

Pyrrha suddenly snapped out of huntress mode and realized what she was doing. "Oh dust! Yang, I'm so sorry, there's no excuse for what I did, please forgiv—"

Yang grabbed the overly-apologetic girl's shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. "Breathe, Nikos. I lived." Pyrrha sighed and looked down at her boots.

Yang plopped down heavily on a bench, and beckoned to the still-sulking Amazon, who shuffled over to sit by her. "Sooo… what's eating you, P-money?" Pyrrha just closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. Slightly annoyed by the redhead's silence, Yang gave her a playful shove. "Are you gonna tell me or do I have to beat it outta you?"

Pyrrha—realizing that resistance was futile—sighed once again. "It's Jaune. We usually train up on the roof after evening classes, but he's blown me off for the third night in a row. He said he had to work on a five-page essay on the history of the dust industry, but when I get back from my nightly training, it's clear that his desk hasn't been touched." Yang nodded sagely, and Pyrrha continued. "In fact, I'm sure he hasn't been at his desk; Nora left a half-eaten banana there two days ago and it was practically rotten by this morning when Ren threw it out.

"I know he hasn't been sleeping that well, and he's been spacing out way more than usual." Yang worked hard to keep from smirking as she pictured Pyrrha watching Jaune sleep. "I'm worried about him. Even Ren and Nora are concerned. He was doing fine for a while after he defeated that Ursa and stood up to Cardin, but lately it's just like he's given up." Pyrrha closed her eyes tightly and took a deep breath.

Normally Yang would rib Pyrrha about her "thing" for Vomit-boy, but tonight was different. Her stoic friend was on the verge of tears. She had to do something to cheer her up.

"So… you murdered a practice dummy?" Yang prompted, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

Pyrrha wiped her sweaty forehead and chuckled softly as she looked at the mass of leather and foam that until just recently was a practice dummy. "I suppose I did get a bit carried away." Yang snorted. Pyrrha's eyes unfocused and she stared into space for a minute. Yang waited for her friend to continue, and eventually Pyrrha broke the silence. "I'm just so frustrated! I want to help him; I'm trying to help him—I'm trying so _damn_ hard. But nothing works," she finished sadly. Yang was shocked that the usually proper Pyrrha Nikos was resorting to swearing. It must _really_ be serious.

"And so I've been training harder," Pyrrha continued. "It's the only thing I know to do." She took several swallows of water from her bottle, not even noticing that a third of it had ended up on her top. "I thought that physical exhaustion would burn off some of my excess aggression, and would give Jaune some space if he needs it, or would at _least_ wear me out enough to let me sleep without… without being bothered by all _this_." Pyrrha waved her hand through the air near her head.

Yang watched as Pyrrha started to slowly unravel like a beloved sweater that had been put through years of use and abuse. Meanwhile, Pyrrha—true to form—had already started apologizing for bothering Yang with her problems, etc. Yang just tuned her out. If only there was something she could do to help…

Pyrrha was in the middle of her guilt-laden apology-filled rant when she was startled by Yang suddenly scooting toward her until their faces were about six inches apart. Yang somehow managed to keep a straight face as she looked her dead in the eyes.

"Girl, you need a drink."

Pyrrha was stunned into silence, and therefore didn't protest when Yang grabbed her by the arm, scooped up their gear with her free hand, and dragged her right out of the gym.

Yang had never been the type of person who could leave a loose thread alone.

* * *

"Ahaha! There you are~!" Yang stopped rummaging around in her closet, and produced a bottle of tequila, which she cradled lovingly.

Pyrrha—still shocked into silence—sat on Weiss's bed. Needless to say, neither the testy heiress nor her enthusiastic partner was in Team RWBY's dorm room at the time. Pyrrha remembered that Nora had invited them to go see a movie with her tonight. She'd mentioned talking dogs, and Ruby was all over it. Dust knows how they'd convinced Weiss to go.

Pyrrha focused on Yang again. Until now, Pyrrha hadn't realize that Yang had actually _meant_ what she said, or that she actually _had_ any liquor stashed in her closet—although in hindsight, she realized that she should have. For dust's sake, it was _Yang_.

"You know that's illegal." A droll, monotone voice indicated that Blake was in the room. Pyrrha turned to see the Faunus girl reading on the bottom of the bunk beds she shared with Yang.

"Aww, Blakey…" Yang cocked her head to one side in an attempt to look cute. "Are you trying to say you want some too?"

"I don't drink and you know it. Where did you get that, and why is Pyrrha here?" Blake glanced over the top of her book at Pyrrha, who looked understandably nervous.

Yang sauntered over to Weiss's bed to join Pyrrha. "One, I know some guys." She winked suggestively. Blake rolled her eyes. "And two, P-money here has been having a rough week and needs something to take the edge off." She threw an arm around Pyrrha's shoulders for emphasis.

Pyrrha finally snapped out of her haze and stood up hastily. She quickly held out her hands and started backing towards the door. "No, no, no… Yang, I _really_ don't want any alcohol. I'm underage, you're underage; we could get into so much trouble if Ozpin even knew you had alcohol in here. I'll just forget I saw this and go back to—"

"Not so fast, P-money!" Almost quicker than she could turn around, a smirking Yang was blocking the door. Pyrrha had a sinking feeling in her gut. Yang was just as strong as she was—if not stronger—and definitely more determined. Pyrrha looked to Blake, silently begging for backup.

Blake, disturbed from her reading by the commotion her mercurial partner and the panicking Amazon were causing, spoke up. "I agree with Pyrrha. I don't want to get kicked out because of your delinquent tendencies."

Yang raised an eyebrow at that—but thankfully had enough sense to avoid mentioning the White Fang in front of Pyrrha. Blake shot her partner a glare that promised a slow and painful death. Yang relented, looking sheepish and apologetic.

Pyrrha briefly wondered what _that_ was all about. Nevermind; she didn't want to know. She just wanted to go back to her—

Her thoughts were interrupted when Blake, still noticeably miffed, continued. "_Anyways_, what's to stop me from reporting you to Professor Goodwitch right now?"

Yang leaned her back against the door and pretended to be deep in thought. "Well… I'm your wonderful, amazing best friend and you would miss me so much if I got kicked out, and…" Yang paused dramatically, then leaned toward Blake, grinning evilly. "I will tell everyone at Beacon that you _purr_ when someone brushes your hair." Pyrrha barely suppressed a giggle. Blake had stopped wearing her bow several weeks ago, so everyone knew that she was a cat Faunus, but picturing her reserved friend _purring_ while Yang brushed her hair… oh dust, it was almost too much.

Blake tensed, ready to spring. "You. Wouldn't. Dare."

Yang cracked the door open a bit and leaned out. "Hey guys! Gue—"

She was abruptly cut off by Blake, who had used her semblance to jump directly to Yang and clamp a hand over the blonde's mouth. "I _will_ kill you."

Yang continued grinning despite Blake's hand over her mouth. "Bfuf thun who wuh bwuths yo haher?" Yang asked before imitating the sound of a cat purring. Blake put Yang in a headlock, and was promptly flipped over for her efforts. The two of them started wrestling in front of the door—unfortunately for Pyrrha, blocking her only escape route—before they ended up on the floor laughing, with Yang sitting on the back of a now-immobilized Blake.

Pyrrha soon joined in their laughter. The two of them looked so ridiculous that she couldn't help it. Two nearly grown huntresses-in-training were settling an argument like second-graders. Watching their antics made her forget why she was so eager to leave—until Yang once again opened her mouth.

"So it's settled then. Pyrrha and I will drown her sorrows in the pleasures of the vine—" Pyrrha's eyes widened with fear.

"Tequila is made *oof* from agave, you oaf," Blake huffed, as she still had the heavier girl sitting on her back.

Yang ignored her. "And you, Blakey?" Blake mumbled something into the floor and looked petulant. Yang started playing with her hair, dangerously close to her cat ears. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

By this time, Blake's face was turning a bit purple. "Okay! Okay! I won't tell Goodwitch! Just get off of me, you brute." Yang poked her at partner's ears a few more times for good measure, causing Blake to growl, and then finally let the Faunus girl up. Blake and Yang stared each other down for a few seconds, before they started laughing again. Pyrrha joined in with some nervous laughter of her own, and Blake and Yang turned to her.

"I'm not going to get away without drinking something, am I?" Pyrrha asked, despair showing clearly across her face. The other two girls shook their heads. Pyrrha just rubbed her temples, accepted her fate, and shuffled back over to Weiss's bed.

* * *

Pyrrha's hands shook as she held the red plastic cup. She'd never drunk alcohol before—unless she counted a few sips of champagne at her cousin's wedding—and she _really_ didn't want to get caught, but she didn't want to fight Yang (and possibly Blake), and she didn't want to get drunk and do something she'd regret, but she didn't want to be rude to a friend who was trying to help in her own unique/illegal way, and…

Her catastrophizing was cut short by Yang bumping her own cup against Pyrrha's, and shouting "Banzai!" Yang threw back her cup and gulped down half of her spiked punch.

Pyrrha had adamantly refused to take any tequila shots, so Yang went to Team RWBY's minifridge and got out a jug of tropical punch and some ginger ale and started mixing combinations of the three beverages in several of those flimsy red plastic cups. Pyrrha was extremely concerned about the ratio of tequila to punch in Yang's concoctions, so Blake offered to mix Pyrrha's punch with a low-to-moderate amount of alcohol. Pyrrha thanked all of the gods of Remnant, but still kept an eye on Blake. Once all the drinks were prepared to everyone's satisfaction and/or begrudging compromise, the three of them sat down on Blake's bed, where Pyrrha was currently staring intently into her cup and wondering how on Remnant she ended up in this situation.

Blake waved a hand in front of her face. Pyrrha snapped to attention and looked at her. "You'd better just drink it," Blake said. "Yang isn't going to let it go until you do."

"Nope!" said Yang in a louder-than-normal voice, popping her lips on the "p". "P-money, you muss tell ush your problemsh and _relaaaax_. Like, girl'sh night out! Thas what thish is now." Pyrrha didn't point out that sitting in Team RWBY's dorm room couldn't be classified as being "out", or that she felt anything _but_ relaxed at this moment. She looked at Yang, who was drinking her third cup of punch and looking quite flushed by now. Blake was sitting in front of her, trying to keep her unruly partner in check. Though she wouldn't report them, Blake wouldn't drink either. Pyrrha protested that that was unfair, but Blake flatly told her that Yang needed a chaperone and also that she would personally make sure things didn't get out of hand. Pyrrha wasn't sure if she should be worried or relieved by that statement.

"It's going to evaporate if you wait much longer," Blake deadpanned, looking at Pyrrha's cup once again.

Yang playfully pushed the nervous girl with her foot. "C'mon, P-money; I've sheen you totally murder a Deathshtalker before! You can't be schared of a lil' bit of spiked punch." Pyrrha noticed that Yang was now slurring her speech quite a bit. The tipsy blonde continued. "And if takin-ing Vomit-boy ash your partner didn't schare you, then I don—"

Yang and Blake both froze as Pyrrha seized her cup and drank down half of the punch in one gulp. "Well, I think we know the root of the problem," said Blake, as Yang cheered and laughed triumphantly in the background. Pyrrha turned redder, looked away, and took another large swallow of her drink. Truth be told, it didn't taste as bad as she thought it would. Just like cheap, generic punch with an odd burning sensation afterwards.

Though Pyrrha didn't like the thought of breaking the law, she had to admit she'd always been curious about alcohol. How would it affect her? Would she get sick? Would she get drunk? How many drinks did it take to get a hangover? Thank dust tomorrow was Sunday…

Blake's calm voice interrupted Pyrrha's musings. "So, Pyrrha: I'm guessing Jaune has been on your mind."

"Yep yep yep!" said Yang. "She wasch tellin' me all 'bout it back at the gym. Sheesh got it _baaaad_ for Vomit-boy!" Yang grabbed for another cup, which was quickly snatched away by Blake and replaced with a ginger ale. "Aww, Blakey! Yer no fun," Yang pouted.

Pyrrha narrowed her eyes at the inebriated blonde girl and took another sip of punch. "I-I never said that. He's my partner and our leader and I was just concerned for his well-being." Yang and Blake gave each other sarcastic glances; they clearly weren't buying it. She looked away from her conspiratorial friends, and finished her cup. The alcohol was starting to affect her: she felt a pleasant warmth spreading through her stomach, and her shoulders felt a little lighter.

"Ah! Young love…" Yang pretended to swoon and landed with her head in Blake's lap.

Blake pretended not to be amused. "Yang, shut up and drink your ginger ale." Yang grumbled, but complied. "So what about Jaune has been bothering you?"

Pyrrha looked over to Blake. The soft-spoken Faunus's presence had a calming effect on her. Pyrrha knew that she could trust Blake, and she wasn't afraid of being judged by her—dust knows Blake knew what _that_ felt like. Even her more… _rowdy_ friend was just trying to help, albeit not the way Pyrrha would have preferred, but still.

"You can tell me," Blake said softly. "I'm a good listener." She smiled and twitched her cat ears for emphasis, sending Yang into a fit of giggles and eliciting a small smile from Pyrrha.

Pyrrha looked away, and then glanced back at Blake's concerned eyes. After taking a moment to collect her wandering thoughts, Pyrrha repeated the story she'd told Yang back at the gym, elaborating a little more on some parts. "…And… and… I juss don't know what ta do!" she finished. As the whole story had spilled out, the normally eloquent Amazon had begun slurring her words. Pyrrha held one hand over her eyes while the other clutched her second cup of punch, three-quarters empty by this time. The more Pyrrha drank, the more emotional she became. She dimly realized that, but didn't really care at the moment.

Blake scooted closer to the distraught Amazon and gently rested a hand on her back. "It's alright, Pyrrha." She had noticed the tears dripping through the hand over Pyrrha's eyes. "If you want to cry, it's alright. Holding back all the time just makes it worse. Believe me."

Pyrrha—with her eyes red and teary, mascara smudged and snot dripping down at her face—looked up at Blake and Yang before abruptly burying her head in Blake's shoulder and bawling. Blake just put an arm around her, rubbed her back, and sat in silence as Pyrrha cried herself out. Her big sister instincts taking over, Yang made her way to Pyrrha's other side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders protectively. She'd even had the foresight to bring the tissue box from the nightstand.

After several minutes, Pyrrha pulled away from them and stared disconsolately at her cup. "I'm so sorry for all this… I dun wanna bother you guysh wif my problemsh… thish is so—"

Before Pyrrha could mumble through her second guilt-laden apology-filled rant of the evening, Yang held up a hand as she shuffled back to the head of Blake's bed. "Shuddup, P-money. We _wanned_ to hear about whas been buggin' ya, 'cuz friendsh do that kin' of schtuff. So rant or cry or whaddever; ya don hafta be so…" Yang paused, searching for the right word, "_perfect_ all tha time."

Blake looked to her incorrigible partner—who was currently attempting to pour tequila into an empty ginger ale can—and after snatching the tequila bottle away and ignoring Yang's subsequent whining, she turned back to Pyrrha.

"Yang may be drunk off her ass right now," Yang fist pumped and Blake ignored her, "but she's right, Pyrrha. You don't have to be strong all by yourself." Blake looked off to one side. "If you have people… _friends_… who really care about you, you should go to them with your problems." Blake's voice took on a more somber tone. "I learned that the hard way."

Yang leaned forward and threw her arms around Blake. "Aww… I wuv you, Blakey!" She rubbed Blake's cat ears, causing the Faunus to push her away, though not without a small smirk at the boisterous girl's affection.

"Th-thanksh, you guysh. I think I n-needed that," Pyrrha said, wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue. She really did feel like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She didn't know that part of that was from the alcohol, but it still felt good to have someone listen to her troubles.

"Anytime, babe," said Yang, winking and pointing a finger-gun at Pyrrha, before dramatically collapsing backwards onto the bed.

Before Yang could say anything to ruin the moment, Blake added, "So, we're clear now, right?" Pyrrha nodded as she absent-mindedly picked up another cup. "Next time, know that you can come talk to us, and _Yang"_—Blake elbowed her partner in the gut, prompting an "oof" and a giggle fit from Yang—"won't feel like she has to get you drunk first. _Right, Yang?_" Yang picked up on the not-so-subtle threat in Blake's voice, and gave a thumbs-up without looking up from her sprawled-out position on the bed.

Pyrrha took a long drink of the punch—which really burned her throat for some reason—and sighed, lolling back on a pile of pillows. "So," she said. "Now that you know whas been bothering me," Pyrrha paused, almost losing her train of thought, "do you have any avice for what I should do now?" Pyrrha took another swig of her (nasty) punch before handing it off to Blake, who held on to it to prevent Yang from drinking it.

"You shud give Vomit-boy a piece of yer mind," Yang said, pointing straight into the air while still laying down on Blake's bed.

Blake thought for a moment, and looked at the very tipsy Amazon. "You know, that might work. If something's bothering you, I'm sure Jaune would want to know." Pyrrha looked like she was about to say something, but Blake cut her off. "_Even_ if it's him. I mean, he's your partner and he obviously cares about you." Pyrrha closed her eyes, defeated.

Blake couldn't resist the temptation to tease Pyrrha a little bit. "You know… maybe he even *likes* you," she added with a lilt in her voice. Yang laughed and awkwardly tried to high-five her partner, instead hitting her in the side. Pyrrha gave them a mean look, causing the mischievous pair to laugh even more. Yang was definitely rubbing off on Blake…


	2. Pyrrha, Go Home You Are Drunk

**Chapter 2 – Pyrrha, Go Home. You Are Drunk.**

"What time izzit?" Pyrrha asked.

Blake looked at the clock on the opposite wall. "About eleven."

Pyrrha floundered around at the foot of Blake's bed, where she was currently propped against several pillows. Eventually, she managed to swing her legs over the side of the bed. "Thanks so musch, guys. I feel a lot…" Pyrrha nearly fell off of the bed, but Blake caught her just in time. "…Better," she finished, suddenly feeling very dizzy.

"You may feel differently in the morning," Blake replied. Yang moaned in affirmation; she was nearly beyond the capacity for coherent speech at this point.

Pyrrha sat up again, more slowly this time. "Curfew's ad midnight, an Nora an Ruby an Weiss will be getting back schoon. If I dun go back now, they'll all find out and dust knows whadd'll happen then." Pyrrha swayed a little on the edge of the bed.

Blake thought for a second. Pyrrha had a point: Weiss and Ruby would go crazy if they found out about Yang's _brilliant_ idea to get Pyrrha drunk in their room, and Nora… Blake didn't want to think about that. She was glad she had moderated Pyrrha's drinking; surprisingly, the Amazon was a total lightweight. She'd only had two drinks and was nearly unable to walk…

Suddenly, Blake remembered the nearly empty cup that she was holding. The drink she'd taken from Pyrrha. The drink that _Yang_ mixed and Pyrrha unwittingly drank. Blake cursed inwardly, but the damage had already been done. She looked at the girl slouching unsteadily near the foot of the bed, eyes glossy and unfocused. Pyrrha Nikos was plastered.

Thinking quickly, Blake got off the bed and extended an arm to Pyrrha. "C'mon, I'll walk you back to your room. You need to get some sleep, then you can talk to Jaune." Pyrrha grabbed at her arm and staggered along with the Faunus girl to the door. Yang held her arms up and melodramatically begged "Blakey" to not leave her, but Blake ignored her. She had to focus on getting Pyrrha back to her own bed before the rest of Team RWBY found out. On their way out the door, Blake scooped up Pyrrha's gym bag.

They made their way shakily across the hall, and Blake knocked softly on Team JNPR's door. A moment later, Jaune opened it.

He froze as he took in the scene before him. His strong, beautiful, and extremely composed partner looked like she'd lost a fight with a Boarbatusk: her long red hair was no longer in its usual ponytail, her boots were nowhere to be found, and her makeup was smeared across her unnaturally rosy face. Add all that to the fact that she couldn't _walk_ by herself at the moment—thank dust Blake had found her—and it was understandable why Jaune was on the verge of totally freaking out.

"Pyrrha! What happened to you? I was worried! You usually aren't out so late. Are you hurt? Blake why are you—"

"Jaune!" Blake snapped. "Move." Pyrrha was leaning more heavily on Blake, whose arm was starting to hurt. Pyrrha needed to lie down. Jaune stepped back quickly and opened the door wider.

Pyrrha gave him a dirty look as they entered the room. "I dun wanna talk to you righ' now," she mumbled. Jaune was about to protest when Blake flashed him a "just-shut-up" look.

Wondering what he had done _this_ time, he said, "Do you need any help?" Blake told him to shut the door and get Pyrrha's gym bag while she guided Pyrrha to her bed.

Meanwhile, Ren was sitting over on his bed looking mildly alarmed. Anyone who knew Ren well would realize that he was, like Jaune, freaking out. It usually took an extreme situation to get any facial expression from Ren at all, and seeing Pyrrha drunk was classified as an extreme situation.

The boys helplessly watched as Pyrrha got onto her bed, kicked the covers around, and lay down with one of her pillows over her face. Blake asked if she wanted to take off her armor, but Pyrrha said that she didn't feel like it. Jaune couldn't take his eyes off of Pyrrha. He was starting to realize what had happened, and he immediately started blaming himself for failing as a team leader, and as Pyrrha's friend, and—

"Jaune!" Blake snapped her fingers in front of his face, snapping him out of his increasingly worried thoughts. "Do you have any sports drinks?"

"Uhh, yeah."

"Then go get one for Pyrrha." Jaune went to Team JNPR's minifridge and grabbed a bottle of grape sports drink, and handed it to Blake. She set it on Pyrrha's nightstand, and asked if Pyrrha needed anything else. After hearing a muffled "no" from under the pillow, Blake walked towards the door, beckoning for Jaune to follow.

Once they were out in the hall, Jaune shut the door quietly, and turned to the weary-looking Faunus girl. "Blake, what in Remnant is going on?" he nearly shouted.

"Keep it down! We're in the hall, and people are _trying_ to sleep," said Blake, fervently wishing that she could be one of those people.

"Tell me what happened to Pyrrha!" Jaune whispered as loudly as it was possible to whisper.

Blake's patience was wearing _very_ thin. "Shut up and I'll tell you!" she growled at him, but managed to keep her voice down. She took a deep breath and began. "Yang saw Pyrrha at the gym, and thought she looked a little down. To cheer her up, Yang brought Pyrrha to our room and convinced her to have a few drinks." Jaune's eyes were as wide as saucers. "I didn't drink anything so I could keep an eye on Yang. You know how she can get carried away…" Both Blake and Jaune grimaced as they remembered the most recent time that Yang had gotten "carried away." No one _ever_ wanted to play "Truth or Dare" with Yang again.

"Anyway," said Blake, trying to repress that memory, "Pyrrha had two drinks that I mixed for her, and I made sure they had a reasonable, _low_ amount of alcohol in them, unlike the ones Yang made for herself. However, Pyrrha accidentally drank some of the spiked punch that _Yang_ mixed, and so now she's drunk."

Jaune blinked. "So… Pyrrha… is drunk?"

Blake sighed. "Yes, Jaune. Pyrrha is drunk." She was _so done_ with this night.

* * *

Jaune stared into space for a moment, trying to process the fact that _Pyrrha_—his loyal partner and the girl he cared most about in the entire world—was lying in their room, drunk and looking like a total mess. It just wasn't _like_ her. Unless…

His hands shot out and grabbed Blake's shoulders, startling the Faunus. "What did you two do to her? Why was she crying? I swear, if you two hurt or humiliated her in _any_ way, I will—"

Blake pushed him away, but she had to admit that she was touched by the boy's concern for his partner. Jaune really did care about Pyrrha, even if Pyrrha didn't realize it. "We just talked! That's it! Calm down, Jaune." The boy was breathing heavily at this point.

Jaune took a deep breath, held it, and then blew it out. "But… she was crying, right?" he asked hesitantly. "Why?"

Unwilling to betray her friend's trust, Blake proceeded carefully. "You can talk to her about that in the morning. Right now, she needs to rest."

Jaune looked at her questioningly, and Blake realized that he probably had no idea what to do. "Just try to keep the room quiet, and don't disturb her if you can help it. Make sure she drinks that sports drink because she's going to be dehydrated. Also," Blake paused, hating to be the one to explain these things, "you might want to keep a wastebasket nearby in case she gets sick later." Jaune looked like he was going to be sick himself. "Even if she isn't hungover, she's probably going to feel like crap tomorrow morning." Jaune hung his head, and nodded once.

"Am I correct in assuming that Pyrrha has never drunk alcohol before?"

Jaune looked up. "I don't think she has… Pyrrha seems pretty straight-edge."

Blake was getting kind of worried now, but hid it for Jaune's sake. She didn't actually _know_ that much about alcohol, except that it affected each person differently, and there was no telling how much of it Pyrrha had drunk tonight thanks to Yang's stupid concoction.

"Well…" she began carefully, "since Pyrrha hasn't been drunk before, it's probably best to watch her. If she falls asleep that's one thing, but if she passes out or collapses, come get me immediately." Jaune was looking more and more freaked out by the second.

Blake heard a muffled thump from her room, and walked back to her own door. "I've got to go check on Yang." Jaune started to stammer something, but Blake said, "Jaune, I'm sure Pyrrha will be fine. And if anything happens, come and get me. Now get in there: your partner needs you." Blake disappeared into her room, leaving the bewildered leader of Team JNPR no choice but to do the same.

Jaune opened the door quietly to see that Ren had moved to Nora's bed in order to watch Pyrrha. The Amazon still had a pillow over her face, and was currently kicking her covers around as though she couldn't decide whether she was hot or cold.

Ren carefully made his way over to Jaune. "She's drunk, isn't she?" Jaune looked at the ground and nodded. "She's never been drunk before, right?" Another nod. "What do we do now?"

Jaune looked up at Ren, who still looked mildly alarmed. He knew he had to step up and be the leader his team deserved right now—even if he was faking it. "We need to make sure she stays hydrated, keep the room quiet, and watch her to make sure she doesn't black out. If anything looks serious, I'll go get Blake."

Ren nodded. "About the room being quiet… Nora's going to be back any time now."

Jaune resisted the urge to facepalm. "Ren, your job will be to distract Nora and keep her as quiet as you can. I'll watch Pyrrha." Ren nodded again, went back to his bed, and braced himself for the oncoming pink storm that would be Nora's return.

Meanwhile, Jaune sat down on Nora's bed. Pyrrha still fidgeted around on her own bed, pillow still covering her face. "Pyrrha?" Jaune called softly.

"What?" came Pyrrha's muffled reply.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" Jaune eyed her armor. She wasn't wearing her greaves (they were in her gym bag with her boots) but she still had her gauntlets, her metal collar, and her breastplate on. "Uh… you look kind of uncomfortable there."

Pyrrha continued moving around, finally taking the pillow off of her face. "Nothing getsh past you, doesh it?" Jaune winced. Pyrrha had never been sarcastic to him before.

Noticing that her smeared makeup was getting all over the sheets and pillowcases, he went to the bathroom for a minute and returned with a warm washcloth. She watched him impassively, and said nothing. Jaune sat back down and offered her the washcloth. "Umm… your makeup's all over. I brought this if you wanted to wipe it off…?"

Silently, Pyrrha took the washcloth and carefully wiped off her face. She felt a little better after that, and mumbled "Thanks" as she handed it back to Jaune. She then stared glumly at the ceiling.

Jaune was feeling a little bolder at this point, so he opened the sports drink that was on the nightstand and handed it to Pyrrha. "Here. Blake said that you should drink this because alcohol makes you really dehydrated." Pyrrha obliged, but continued to give Jaune the cold shoulder. After drinking several swallows, Pyrrha put the drink back on the nightstand.

Not knowing what else to do, Jaune simply sat on Nora's bed and watched her. Pyrrha stared at the ceiling, trying to ignore him, but eventually Jaune's vigil irritated her so much that she broke her silence. "Jaune, quit shtaring at me. Iss making me uncomforble."

"Oh, sorry," said Jaune, somehow managing to look embarrassed and worried at the same time. After clearing a space for himself amidst a dozen pink and purple stuffed animals, he lay down on Nora's bed and joined Pyrrha in staring at the ceiling for the next twenty minutes.

Eventually, curiosity overwhelmed Pyrrha and she turned slightly in her partner's direction. "Why are you laying on Nora's bed?" she asked tiredly. Pyrrha had stopped slurring her speech by this point, but still sounded hoarse.

Jaune was too nervous to meet her gaze right now, so he kept staring at the ceiling as he answered. "Blake said that Yang got you drunk, and I want to make sure that the alcohol doesn't have any dangerous effects on you." Pyrrha considered this, then drank some more of the sports drink. "If anything ever happened to you, Pyrrha, I'd never forgive myself." Her expression softened a little, but Jaune didn't notice because he was still staring at the ceiling.

"I'm sorry, Pyrrha," he whispered. "I've been a bad leader, a bad partner, and a bad friend. You deserve a lot better than me."

That was the moment that Pyrrha Nikos snapped.


	3. In Which Nikos Lays It Out

**Chapter 3 – In Which Nikos Lays It Out**

"Shut. Up."

Jaune sat up, and looked over at Pyrrha. She had a violent look in her eye, and she was trembling with anger. He unconsciously scooted a little farther away from the furious Amazon.

"Just shut up, Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted. She sat up—a little too fast; she was still dizzy—and yelled, "I am _so_ damn sick of this pity-party you've been having for yourself this week! I know you haven't been writing an essay."

"P-p-pyrrha—"

"No! Just _shut up_ and listen to me!" Pyrrha was trembling even more now due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "I don't _ever_ want to hear you say that I deserve better than you _ever_ again." By now, she had moved over to Nora's bed and had all but backed Jaune against the headboard. The fear he felt when he saw that Deathstalker during initiation was nothing when compared to seeing Pyrrha Nikos truly angry at him.

Narrowing her eyes with fury, Pyrrha sat on her knees and leaned on her hands directly in front of her terror-stricken partner. "Jaune, did it ever occur to you that I might have actually _wanted_ to be your partner? _I'm_ the one who pinned you to that tree and searched you out at initiation, remember? It wasn't because I felt sorry for you or any crap like that." Like Yang, Jaune knew that if Pyrrha was using language like that, it was _really_ serious.

Meanwhile, Ren was over on his bed, sincerely wishing that he was not in the room but too afraid to move.

Pyrrha went on. "I thought you were funny, and… and… nice," she waved a hand as she searched for the word, "and I knew that you weren't just plotting to team up with me because I was famous or good at fighting. I'm not stupid; I knew that's why Weiss was sucking up to me." She gritted her teeth at the memory and hung her head. Jaune was frozen in shocked silence.

"You told me that you want to live up to your family's reputation," she growled, "but did you ever think about the pressure that will be on you if you do? It's like being a team leader all the time but a lot harder. People depend on you; look up to you. They expect you to be strong _all the time!_" Jaune—still petrified—had never thought of it that way before.

"_You_ put them on a pedestal, _you_ think they're perfect, you you _you! _That's who it's all about, isn't it? Did you ever think about how _they_ feel?" She looked up at Jaune for a moment, then, unable to meet his eyes any longer, let her eyes dart to random objects around the room. Jaune was starting to realize that Pyrrha had moved on from talking about him and was now talking about herself.

"Do you think it's easy even when you… when you… win tournaments, and have your picture taken all the time? When you don't know if people actually like _you_ or if they just want things from you because you're famous?" Jaune could clearly smell the alcohol on her breath as she moved a little closer, panting and leaning more heavily on her hands.

"When you have to financially support your family when you're fifteen, knowing full well that if you so much as _broke your leg_, your parents would have to move back to your grandparents' farm and… and… breed horses?" Pyrrha's face scrunched up as she tried in vain to suppress the tears in pooling her eyes. "To be just like… like… a horse? Trained, worked, groomed, shown off, admired," she broke off and sobbed a few times, "and still be able to be rendered useless in _one second?_" Then the dam burst, and Pyrrha started crying her eyes out for the second time that night. She crawled several feet away from Jaune and flopped down on Nora's bed before curling up as tightly as she could.

Seeing his beloved partner crying like a little girl at the foot of the bed brought tears to Jaune's own eyes. He hated seeing any girl cry, but when it was Pyrrha… He finally realized what he'd been putting the girl through. Without even realizing it, he'd put her on a pedestal, and he hadn't considered how she felt. Pyrrha didn't need another admirer; she needed a friend who would treat her like an equal. Jaune's high opinion of Pyrrha had come back to bite him.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was still curled into a little ball—at least, as small a ball as possible since she still had half of her armor on—and weakly berating herself for her outburst. She had schooled herself for years to suppress outbursts of emotion like this because other people looked to her as a source of strength. If she broke down, they might, too. But tonight, it was like she couldn't help it. Later, Pyrrha would realize that it was the alcohol that had finally induced her to lower her inhibitions enough to say what she'd wanted to say all that time. And—to her surprise—letting it all out was a relief. She hadn't felt this relieved for _so long_…

Ren took the opportunity to slip out into the hallway in order to escape the extremely awkward situation in the room as well as intercept Nora when she got back from the movie.

Pyrrha's sobbing was starting to die down, so Jaune took a chance and touched her on the shoulder. "Pyrrha?" His hand was smacked away as Pyrrha sat up again quickly.

"Don't touch me!" she snarled. Jaune jerked back like he'd been bitten.

"I-I j-just wanted t-to apologize for—"

"For what?" Pyrrha shouted. "For being a 'bad friend' or a 'bad partner' or something like that?" As Jaune looked at her miserably, his eyes red and puffy, Pyrrha realized that she was being too hard on the boy. He just wanted to help, and _dust knows_ she understood that feeling. She slumped her shoulders and stared at the bedcovers, then sighed heavily and lowered her voice. "Jaune, the only way I'd say you were being a bad partner… or a bad friend… is when you shut me out like you have the past few days. I… just want to help you… with _whatever_… because you're my best friend… and my partner… and I…" She sniffled a little and hiccupped. "It's like you don't trust me, and I don't know if it's because of something I did, or if you needed to do things on your own, or if I tried pushing you too hard, or—" She was interrupted from her rambling when Jaune touched her shoulder.

To Jaune's immense relief, she didn't slap his hand away again. He rubbed her shoulder gently. "Pyrrha," he began hesitantly. His partner still refused to look him in the eye, but didn't stop him. "I didn't realize that you were holding so much back, and you're right about me. I haven't been thinking about how you feel, and I am _so_ sorry." Jaune choked a little on those last words. "You didn't do anything that made me push you away. I guess I just… didn't want to bother you with my problems." Pyrrha looked up at him for a second, then back down at the bed. Jaune continued rubbing her shoulder. "I guess that just made it worse. I was worrying about you, and I guess you were worrying about me… and we were both trying to be the strongest…"

"And now we're here." Pyrrha finished. She blinked sleepily and lay down on her stomach. "I guess we should just try to be strong by working together." She yawned. "And actually _talking_ to each other, dustdammit." She laughed softly in spite of herself.

"Yeah." Jaune scooted back over to the headboard. "_Dust,_ this has been a long night."

"Mmmhm," Pyrrha mumbled in agreement, before finally nodding off.

Jaune continued to watch over Pyrrha, glad to see that she was finally getting some sleep. If anyone deserved it right now, she did. The Amazon was still a total mess: red hair everywhere, face blotchy from crying, half-dressed in her sweaty combat armor, smelling like alcohol, and stretched out crossways at the foot of Nora's bed. Despite all that, she looked like she was sleeping more peacefully than Jaune had ever seen her sleep before. Was it the alcohol or was it the relief borne of not having to carry such a heavy burden all alone anymore? Dust only knew…

As he looked at the sleeping girl, Jaune again thanked the gods for such an amazing partner. He had never meant to hurt her; he just got caught up in his own issues again without thinking about how that could affect _her_. He was so stupid! Pyrrha was nothing if not loyal and willing to drop everything to help him—even to a fault, bless her. From then on, Jaune resolved to be a better partner… and a better _friend_… to Pyrrha. He really did care about her—no, he _loved_ her—and he was going to start treating her like it. The object of his affection was now drooling on Nora's comforter. Jaune smiled softly and slumped back against the headboard.

Approximately two minutes later, he was just nodding off when the door swung open and a loud, high-pitched voice said: "Ren, why are Jaune and Pyrrha on my bed?"

Nora had returned.

* * *

Ren grabbed Nora's shoulders and Jaune frantically held a finger to his lips but it was too late.

Pyrrha groaned and pushed herself up on her arms. "Nora… I'm trying to sleep." She blinked a few times to focus on the source of the annoying racket that had woken her.

Nora crossed her arms. "But you're on my bed! Go sleep on your own."

Pyrrha collapsed back down onto the bed, knocking a purple stuffed unicorn onto the ground as she did so. "I don't wanna. I'm happy right here." Her voice was muffled by the large, pink, Ursa plushie she was currently burying her face in.

Ren squeezed Nora's shoulders to get her attention. "Nora, Pyrrha's had a _really_ rough night… just let her use your bed." Nora turned around to glare at him. "Please?" Ren was pleading with her at this point.

Nora looked back at Pyrrha, noting her mussed hair and makeup as well as the fact that she was still wearing half of her armor. "Ren," she whisper-yelled, "what happened to Pyrrha? She looks like hell!" The disheveled Amazon heard that and growled.

Jaune quickly got off of Nora's bed and ushered his other two teammates into the hallway and shut the door. "Listen, Nora. Pyrrha got drunk and kinda fell asleep on your bed—"

"She got drunk? But that's illega—" Ren clamped a hand over the now-shouting Nora's mouth.

Jaune shot Ren a grateful look. "That's why we've got to be _extra_ quiet! You don't want her to get in trouble, do you?" Nora—mouth still covered by Ren's hand—shook her head. "Right, so we've got to be quiet when we go back in there, and just let her sleep, okay?" Nora nodded.

She licked Ren's hand and he quickly removed it from her mouth. She looked back at her leader. "But Jauuuune… where am I gonna sleep?" Ren wiped his hand on his shirt and looked at Jaune, who looked at Nora, who looked at Ren.

Jaune rubbed his temples; it was really too late for this. "Nora, can't you just sleep on Pyrrha's bed?"

"No! Since I broke it when I was playing 'the floor is lava' last month, she forbade me from ever getting on it _ever_ again." Jaune recalled that incident. If Pyrrha woke up in the middle of the night and dragged herself over to her bed only to find _Nora_ lying on it… he shuddered.

"Okay, you can sleep on my bed."

Nora's eye's widened. "Your bed? But you're a boy! I could get cooties or something! Ew! Eww!" She had returned to her default volume of "outside voice".

Ren squeezed her shoulder again. "Nora, not so loud." He looked at Jaune, who was clearly backed into a corner as far as sleeping arrangements went. "She… could sleep on my bed…" Ren ventured. Nora's eyes lit up and she started bouncing around Ren excitedly, chattering about sleepovers they'd used to have when they were younger and hanging off of her partner's neck. "If… *cough* Jaune says… it's okay… *cough*" Nora released Ren's neck and looked at Jaune expectantly.

That look in her eye… Jaune had seen it somewhere before. That's right: when he'd tried to take a piece of raw chicken away from a Rottweiler. "Fine," he sighed. Nora started making high-pitched sounds that were quickly silenced by Ren. Jaune looked to the quiet boy. "As long as both of you stay clothed." Ren nodded while still fending off the elated Nora.

Finally they made their way back into the room. Pyrrha was still sleeping on Nora's bed, drooling again… right onto the pink stuffed Ursa she was using for a pillow.

"Oh no." The words had barely left Ren's mouth before Nora was marching over to the sleeping Amazon. Jaune looked at Ren—what was it _this_ time?—who said, "Nora never sleeps without her stuffed Ursa."

Jaune sighed. He didn't even have the energy to panic anymore. "The one Pyrrha is using as a pillow, right?" Ren nodded. Both boys knew that it was pointless to intervene now. They were just going to make sure the girls didn't kill each other.

Nora tapped Pyrrha on the shoulder. "Pyrrha, you can stay on my bed, but I need Ursee back."

"Shut up, Nora. I'm trying to sleep," Pyrrha grumbled.

"No, not until you give back Ursee!" Nora had been sleeping with Ursee for the past fifteen years and she wasn't about to stop now.

"What are you talking about? Go away."

"I _will_ go away as soon as you let go of Ursee!" Nora was _not_ going to drop this.

Dimly, Pyrrha realized that "Ursee" was the thing she was using as a pillow.

Pyrrha mumbled incoherently and relinquished the stuffed toy, grabbing another and stuffing it under her head.

Nora grabbed it eagerly. "Yay! I have rescued you, Ursee, from the clutches of the—" Her gaze darkened. "You _drooled_ on Ursee."

Pyrrha, though visibly agitated at this point, apologized, and rolled over to go back to sleep.

She turned to Ren and Jaune, and said, "What am I supposed to do now? Ursee still has drool and Pyrrha-germs all over him!" Unfortunately, she'd forgotten all about the "be quiet and don't disturb Pyrrha" concept they'd gone over in the hall.

"Nora! Go the hell to bed!" Pyrrha screamed, sitting up to face her hyperactive teammate.

"Stop yelling at me! _You're_ the one who slobbered all over Ursee!" Nora screamed back.

"Nora…" Ren said, trying to convince his overexcited partner to leave the Amazon alone. "We can go clean Ursee off with a washcloth now, then wash him with the laundry tomorrow."

Nora and Pyrrha didn't even hear him; the boys just had to stand there and watch the trainwreck happen right in front of them.

"'Ursee' is not my problem. Just take him and go to bed already!"

"No! Ursee must have justice!" Nora pounded her fist decisively into her other hand.

Pyrrha was losing interest in this stupid argument and lay back down. "Bite me," she muttered.

The words had scarcely left her mouth before Pyrrha felt a set of teeth sinking into her right upper arm. She turned to look and found herself face-to-face with a gleeful Nora.

The instant Pyrrha had said "bite me," Ren sprung into action. Nora _never_ backed down from a challenge, and everyone in their middle school could attest that she was prone to biting.

But he was too late; the damage had been done.

Pyrrha looked wildly around for Miló, her hand glowing black as she used her semblance to try to summon the spear to her gauntlet. Jaune did his best to reach her gym bag and grab the weapon before she got ahold of it, but something entirely unexpected happened: Pyrrha—hands still glowing black—was yanked off of the bed and fell to the floor before skidding a few feet and…

Sticking to the minifridge.

In her drowsy, alcohol-addled state, Pyrrha had lost control of her semblance and accidentally magnetized her armor to the nearest large metal object: Team JNPR's minifridge. As though that weren't bad enough, she hadn't figured that out yet and was still using her semblance to try to summon Miló, causing her to stick even more strongly to the fridge.

For a moment everyone went silent. Then Nora burst out laughing at her embarrassed and extremely pissed-off teammate. Jaune and Ren didn't dare laugh at Pyrrha—though Ren secretly thought it was pretty funny—and were just formulating a plan to evacuate Nora (and Ursee) from Beacon when Yang practically kicked down the door.


	4. Yang To The Rescue! (sorta)

**Chapter 4 – Yang To The Rescue! (sorta)**

Some time earlier in Team RWBY's Room, Blake Belladonna sat awake for three reasons, the first being in case Jaune needed any help with Pyrrha. Even though this was Yang's dumb idea, Blake still felt partially responsible.

The second reason was that her sensitive Faunus ears could hear talking, followed by crying coming from Team JNPR's room. She couldn't make out specifics of the conversation, but she could tell that Pyrrha was spilling her guts to Jaune.

The third reason was that she had finally gotten Yang, who had started to sober up rather quickly due to her higher-than-normal body heat, to brush her hair. Blake tried to focus on that instead of the noises coming from her fellow team's room, and soon succeeded. She began to purr contentedly.

After a particularly loud outburst from across the hall, Yang grinned. "All is going according to my brilliant plan, muhahaha!"

"So you _did_ plan this." Blake wasn't that surprised; after all, she'd been living with Yang for several months now.

Yang gave her a crooked grin and shrugged. "More or less." Yang pretended to examine the fingernails on her left hand. "I figured a little bit of 'truth serum' would foster communication between P-money and Vomit-boy."

Hearing the muffled ranting and sobbing coming from across the hall, Blake had to admit that the alcohol _had_ gotten Pyrrha talking—but whether that was a good thing or a bad thing remained to be seen.

Blake rolled her eyes but smiled. "You are such an ass."

Yang stuck out her tongue.

"Did I say you could stop brushing?"

Ten minutes later, Ruby and Weiss came in. The former quickly changed into her pajamas and climbed onto her bed, while the latter made a few snarky comments about how juvenile the "kid's movie" was. Ruby just yawned, and smiled sleepily. "Pssh, Weiss was laughing almost as much as I was. She really loved that talking dog." Yang snickered while Weiss glared daggers at her partner.

After Weiss had changed into her own pajamas, she went to her own bed and slipped under the covers. Ruby was already snoring quietly in the bed above hers. Her leader really _was_ just a kid; she could barely stay up past midnight. After turning all but one of the lamps out, the heiress put her sleep-mask on and lay down for the night.

The peace that had enveloped the room was broken about forty-five seconds later when the three conscious members of Team RWBY heard Nora screaming something followed by from a loud thump coming across the hall. Blake stopped purring. Yang stopped brushing. Weiss sat up.

The Faunus girl was the first to speak. "Yang, go get her."

* * *

"Alrighty kids, it's time for bed—" Yang abruptly forgot whatever else she was going to say as she took in the scene in Team JNPR's room: Jaune Arc and Lie Ren were standing around looking completely lost, Nora Valkyrie was holding a pink Ursa plushie and laughing at Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time champion of the Mistral tournament, who was stuck to the minifridge like a giant, angry magnet.

Yang—who had completely forgotten that she had come over to help—joined Nora in laughing at Pyrrha, and was soon sitting on the ground howling with laughter at the whole situation.

Blake appeared out of nowhere and kicked Yang in the butt. "Get her."

Pyrrha finally stopped using her semblance and was released from the minifridge. The Amazon was fuming at this point, and a few tears had even started to well up in her eyes due to mingled anger and humiliation.

Still laughing, Yang scooped Pyrrha up and tossed her unceremoniously over her shoulder before marching back to Team RWBY's room. Blake just rolled her eyes, turned around and followed Yang. She was biting her lip to keep from laughing; she did feel sorry for Pyrrha, but getting stuck to a fridge….

Once in Team RWBY's room, Blake and Yang forcibly stripped Pyrrha to her underwear and made her put on an oversized Achieve Men t-shirt that Yang kept for spare pajamas. Weiss stared, but decided not to ask. It was late, and sometimes with Blake and Yang, it was better not to know. She could interrogate them in the morning.

Then Blake jumped up onto Yang's bed, while Yang pushed Pyrrha over to Blake's bed and lay down, roughly dragging her confused friend with her. Pyrrha was too drained and incoherent to struggle anymore, and got under the blanket with Yang without protest. Soon both girls were asleep: Yang snoring and Pyrrha drooling. Blake checked on them one more time, and then finally went to sleep herself. Weiss put earplugs in and plotted revenge on the two idiots who occupied the other side of the room. Ruby slept through the whole thing, blissfully ignorant of all the goings-on.

* * *

The next morning, Pyrrha Nikos awoke with a jerk. The aforementioned jerk was Yang, who opened her eyes, yawned, and said, "Good morning, sexy."

Pyrrha looked around wildly, realizing that she was not in her room, she was not in her own clothes, and she was lying in a bed next to Yang, practically in the blonde's arms. Sheer terror gripped her heart.

Noticing that Pyrrha was about to have a stroke, Yang spoke up. "Calm down, P-money; it was a joke. You're still innocent." Yang put a finger to her chin and pretended to think. "Well, probably."

Blake's head peered down at them from the top bunk. "Don't listen to her, Pyrrha." Yang laughed. "There was some… commotion in your room last night. I figured it would be easier if you just slept over here. You two are on my bed in case one of you fell off." Pyrrha still looked extremely nervous. "And Yang did _not_ molest you," Blake added before glaring at her partner. This was not the time to tease Pyrrha; the poor girl had enough problems right now. Thankfully, Yang took the hint and kept her big mouth shut for the time being.

Blake climbed off of the bed and headed for the door. "I'll go get you a change of clothes."

Pyrrha rubbed her face; her throat was so dry! In addition to that, her skin was dry, her hair was greasy, and her makeup was smeared on her arm and—ugh—Yang's pajamas. She just felt… dirty. And since she hadn't had a shower since her training dummy-destroying workout last night, Pyrrha needed one now. Badly. While trying to roll out of the bed, she brushed her right arm against the bedpost and winced. When did she get bruised there? Pyrrha looked at the sore spot and found two arc-shaped bruises. They almost looked like… teeth marks. Her eyes widened in horror as she remembered everything that had happened the previous night. _Everything._ Pyrrha bolted straight up and hit her head on the bottom of Yang's bunk.

"Whoa, P-money, are you okay?" said Yang, carefully sitting up herself.

Pyrrha just ran toward Team RWBY's bathroom. "I'm going to take a shower," she rasped.

* * *

Pyrrha soaped up her body for the third time that morning, trying (and failing) to get rid of the dirty feeling she had. She rinsed off and just let the hot water run over her head for a few minutes. She'd broken the law, she'd lost control of her emotions, she'd made a fool of herself… and, to add insult to injury, she'd woken up in _Yang's_ arms. How could she ever look any of her teammates in the eye again? She was so stupid! And _Yang_… Pyrrha was just thinking of places that she could hide the blonde's body when Blake knocked on the door and came in.

"I got you a change of clothes." A mumbled "thanks" followed by a long silence was the only reply Blake got for her effort. Sighing, the Faunus went into the steamy bathroom. "Pyrrha?" Silence. "You've got to come out of the shower sometime. Yang is stinking up the room and Weiss will be pissed if she doesn't take a shower soon." The water shut off, but Pyrrha didn't move.

Blake had a fairly good idea of why her friend didn't want to leave the bathroom. "Listen, Pyrrha: they're not mad at you. Well, except maybe Nora." Pyrrha cringed. "But judging from Jaune's reaction, they're far more _worried_ about you. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all."

Pyrrha considered this for a minute before reaching out from behind the shower curtain and grabbing a towel. Blake smiled, shut the door, and went back to preventing Yang from joining Pyrrha in the shower because she was "taking too long."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Team JNPR's room, Jaune sat on his bed and waited nervously. Blake had come over to retrieve a clean set of clothes for Pyrrha, who—thank dust—was doing all right. Jaune had not slept well; though he knew that Blake would watch out for her, _Yang_ was still over there. He'd have to have a word with her later… even though he doubted it would do any good.

Pyrrha would be back soon, and he had no idea what to do then.

His other two teammates were cuddling over on Ren's bed… or at least Nora was cuddling Ren. And if the small smile on his face was any indication, Ren was thoroughly enjoying it. The quiet boy's offer to serve as a substitute for Ursee for the night was incredibly well-received by his rambunctious best friend. If anything, Jaune thought it was a little _too_ well-received. Then there was the implication that _he_ had cooties while Ren did not…

Jaune felt a twinge of jealousy as he looked at them. It must be nice to have someone to snuggle with. Before Jaune could follow that trail of thought any further, he heard a very soft knock. He scrambled off of his bed and opened the door.

Pyrrha, hair still wet from the shower, stood there meekly. She didn't dare meet her partner's eyes, choosing to focus on the ground instead. Jaune motioned for her to come in, warning her quietly that Nora and Ren were still asleep.

But Pyrrha didn't come in. "Um… Jaune?" She looked up at him worriedly. "Can… can we go to the common room for a minute?"

"O-of course." Jaune fell into step behind Pyrrha as they made their way down the hall to the common room.

Once they had arrived, Pyrrha gave the room a quick once-over to make sure they were alone. Satisfied that they were, she hunched her shoulders slightly and clutched her left arm with her right hand nervously. Finally she made eye contact with Jaune, but he could tell she was struggling to maintain it. "So… I wanted to apologize for last night. I was pretty harsh with you. I won't blame the alcohol, or even Yang for making me drink it; I'll take responsibility for what I said. And I know I can't take any of it back, so I just…" Pyrrha stopped and took a deep breath, willing herself to keep it together, "I just wanted to ask for your forgiveness." She looked back down at her shoes.

Jaune listened silently, watching her face get redder by the second. When her rant was over, Jaune considered how best to respond. "Pyrrha?" His partner looked up at him. "Of course I forgive you, but I… uh… y-you don't need to apologize." Jaune shifted his weight to his other foot uncomfortably. "You… you weren't as harsh as you think you were. You made me realize that I haven't been thinking about you, and… I'll do better; I promise. So _I'm_ sorry. Will you forgive me?"

Pyrrha's mouth formed a tiny smile, and she punched Jaune lightly on the arm. She was shocked when Jaune pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're my partner," he murmured.

Pyrrha closed her eyes to hold back a few tears that threatened to escape. "Me too," she said into his shoulder.

After a few moments, they separated awkwardly and started walking back to their room.

"Hey, Pyrrha?" said Jaune as they reached their doorway. "Do you want to catch up on some training tonight?"

The Amazon smirked. "Sure. Just remember that you're the one who asked when you're taking painkillers tonight." Jaune chuckled nervously. He knew that he deserved whatever hellish exercises Pyrrha had planned for him.

Pyrrha slouched a little bit. "I am _so_ tired. Before I do anything else, I'm going to take a nap."

"I think I'll join you," said Jaune. Pyrrha stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him.

Jaune backpedaled as he realized what he'd said. "I mean, I will also take a nap. In my own bed. Because the nap idea sounds like a good one… " He trailed off, sighing as he failed in his efforts to be smooth once again.

When he turned away towards the door, Pyrrha smiled gently. That was the goofy, awkward, kind Jaune that she loved.

Both Jaune and Pyrrha were feeling slightly disappointed—and very tired—when Jaune opened the door to Team JNPR's room, where they observed Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren napping in the same bed. How ironic.

* * *

Back in Team RWBY's room, both Yang and Blake were pressed against the door, listening. Yang was using a red plastic cup to her ear in order to hear better, and Blake twitched her cat ears as they heard Pyrrha and Jaune make plans for evening training. When they heard the awkward exchange about naps, Yang leaned back, looking smug. "Well, well. My master plan worked and the kids are alright. One day they'll thank me."

Blake stared back at her impassively. "I'm sure they'll say something nice at your graveside, since they are going to murder you first." Blake couldn't keep her poker face for long and started quivering with suppressed laughter. Yang joined in, but having far less restraint than her quiet partner, dashed over to Blake's bed, slammed her face into a pillow, and started laughing.

Unfortunately, Yang was still loud enough to wake Weiss, who sat up suddenly. The look on her face made it clear that she was pretty pissed off about having her beauty sleep disturbed. "What are you two idiots doing?" she huffed.

"Scratch that; maybe Weiss will kill you first," Blake deadpanned.

Yang looked at Blake and mimed zipping her lip and throwing away the key. Even though Yang's sign didn't totally make sense, Blake got the message and said nothing.

Their unspoken agreement only annoyed Weiss further. "I demand to know what happened last night!" Weiss said, keeping her volume low so as not to disturb Ruby above her. "Your side of the room smells, the scent of alcohol is wafting about the room, and—oh, I almost forgot—there was the part where you two _literally_ carried Pyrrha over, stripped her half-naked, and made her sleep in Blake's bed with Yang!"

Yang was grinning like a Cheshire cat while Blake had resumed her semi-poker face, but neither girl answered Weiss.

Some rustling was heard from the bunk above Weiss's. "Could you guys keep it down? It's Sunday morning." Near the end of her rant, Weiss had gotten considerably louder and woken Ruby. "And what's all this about Pyrrha being half-naked in our room? And—ewww—Yang, why does your side stink more than normal?"

Yang put on her best "condescending big sister" look, and said, "I'll tell you when you're older."

"Yaaaaaaang…" Ruby whined as Yang headed for the shower, Blake started stripping the sheets off of Yang's and her bed, and Weiss got out a large aerosol can of air freshener.

* * *

Pyrrha was a bit surprised at her teammates' sleeping arrangement, having been carried off before Ren and Nora went to bed.

"Haha!" Nora yelled as she suddenly popped up from under the covers. "I bet you thought we were asleep!"

"I was asleep," Ren grumbled.

As Nora's face took on an unusually serious look, a red-faced Pyrrha hurriedly started her apology. "Nora, I'm so sorry for falling asleep on your bed last night. And for what happened to Ursee. I promise I'll wash him today." Nora continued to stare at her silently. "And your sheets." She looked to her own bed then. "And my sheets." She was trying very hard not to die of embarrassment.

Nora's usual sunny smile returned. Ren sat up and whispered something to her. "Oh yeah! Pyrrha, I'm sorry for biting you." Ren elbowed her, and she squeaked. "And making fun of you when you got stuck to the fridge." She paused. "Even though it was hilarious."

"Nora…" Ren growled.

Nora looked remorseful for exactly 0.3 seconds before jumping off the bed and bouncing over to stand in front of Pyrrha. She clasped her hands behind her back, and leaned toward Pyrrha, who found the smile on Nora's face very unnerving. "You know what we've gotta do now?" Nora said mischievously. Pyrrha shook her head slowly.

Nora held out her arms to the extremely flustered Amazon. "Hug it out, bitch!" she screamed, before tackling Pyrrha in a crushing hug that she had no choice but to return.

"Nora! Language!" said Ren sharply. Of course, he was completely ignored by his bubbly friend, who was still occupied with glomping Pyrrha within an inch of her life.

Pyrrha hugged the shorter girl back and laughed softly. She knew all was forgiven.

Jaune smiled at the girls, glad to see that Nora had forgiven Pyrrha so readily and that his partner had accepted her forgiveness. Pyrrha had a tendency to beat herself up about her mistakes, no matter how small.

He took the opportunity to raise a hand and call for an impromptu team meeting. He cleared his throat before beginning. "As leader of Team JNPR, I hereby forbid any of its members from underage drinking ever again. Also, I would like to add that under no circumstances is anyone to drink in Yang's presence. Ever."

Pyrrha and Ren hastily murmured their agreement while Nora snapped to attention, struck a dramatic salute and yelled, "Aye aye, cap'n!"

Ren and Nora decided to go into town to get some brunch, while Jaune and Pyrrha climbed into their respective beds and settled down to take a much-needed rest.

Within minutes, Pyrrha drifted off to sleep while thinking up ways to make Yang pay for their "girls' night out."

* * *

Author's note: I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Also, in response to a question I had, this particular story _is_ complete. I left it a little open-ended in case I ever decide to write a sequel. (I have no current plans to, but it might be… interesting if JNPR decides to get revenge on Yang.)

Also also, I know I didn't exactly get the timing right of how quickly alcohol affects / wears off of the consumer, but I do not have extensive personal experience with alcohol. I had stretch the facts a little bit to fit the story. (Like, I don't think Pyrrha's rant to Jaune would have had the same effect if she was slurring the whole thing.) Pyrrha wasn't even technically drunk, just pretty tipsy.

Disclaimer: Underage drinking is not okay. _Especially_ if Yang is there.


End file.
